Antinoise carrier receiving system



Filed Dec. 9.

FIG. I.

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w. H. VIIIRKLER ANTINOISE CARRIER RECEIVING SYSTEM 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 DELAY CIRCUIT 7 Branch No.2 R0 U T P o c 6) IN DETECTOR FILTER SIGNAL Bronc No.l

5 v "Fr From L Branch OUTPUT No.| nT-id '1 I From {I OUTPUT Brunch E \I From Brunch No.1 f/J OUTPUT From Branch No.2

CONTROL TERMINALS EEK; 4 K? a! 3noentor WALTER H. WIRKLER Dec. 25, 1951 w. H. WIRKLER ANTINOISE CARRIER RECEIVING SYSTEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 9,' 1947 Snventor Dec. 25, .1951 w. H. WIRKLER 2,580,148

ANTINOISE CARRIER RECEIVING SYSTEM Filed Dec. 9, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 CONTROL TERMINALS Sprmg T o A%A /L /l 4? 1 d3 'l 4a 50 43a q/a ,1

34 PRODUCTOR -I comcms-cz DETECTOR 34a PRODUCT OR commence 021501012 'v A I BIAS Y K VOLTAGE 5 L v NV 1 Bnventor WALTER H. WIRKLER (Ittorneg Dec. 25, 1951 w. H. WIRKLER 2,580,143

ANTINOISE CARRIER RECEIVING SYSTEM Y Filed Dec. 9. 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Zmnemor WALTER H. WIRKLER Zttorneg Patented Dec. 25, 1951 ANTINOISE CARRIER RECEIVING SYSTEM Walter H. Wirkler, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, assignor to Collins Radio Company, Cedar Rapids,.Iowa, a corporation of Iowa Application December 9, 1947, Serial No. 790,501

3 Claims.

This invention relate to signal detector arrangements and more particularly to systems employing high frequency carriers.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a signal or control voltage responsive circuit which is operative in the presence of relatively strong noise voltages, but which is prevented from false operation by the noise voltage itself.

Another object is to provide a signal voltage responsive circuit which responds to a substantially steady intelligence or control signal, and which is substantially non-responsive to random noise voltages in themselves.

A further object is to provide an improved signal responsive circuit which depends for its proper control or intelligence action, upon the presence of a received carrier, and which is protected against false operation by random noise voltages in the absence of received carrier.

Another object is to provide a signal receiving system of the carrier-oft detection type, wherein false operation by random noise voltage is prevented by employing a product detector which is fed by two input branches one or" which has a greater time delay than the other; the two branches are arranged to be supplied in parallel with the received voltags. The time delay of one branch is coordinated with respect to the other branch so that substantially coincident carrier voltages or similar substantially steady signals are necessary in both branches in order to produce a rectified control signal in the detector output.

A feature of the invention relates to a system which is responsive to a steady intelligence or control signal and substantially non-responsive random noise voltages, employing a product detector having two input branches with predetermined and relative transmission delays, and a single output circuit wherein detected output exists only when input energy is applied simultaneously over to said detector; the output circuit having means for selecting the uni-directional current representing the steady signals, while rejecting the alternating currents representing the noise.

Another feature relates to an improved carrier-ofi and noise discriminator arrangement employing a coincident detector of the electromechanical transducer type.

A further feature relates to a carrier-01f and noise discriminator arrangement employing two product or coincidence detectors each of which has a pair of input branches and a common output circuit. The corresponding ones of eachof 7 said pairs of input. branches are time delayed a predetermined amount with respect to the remaining input branches, and the signal voltages applied to the two input. branches of one detector differ by electrical degrees from the relation which exists between the signal voltages applied to the two input branches of the other detector. Each detector has its output provided with special filter means, the output of the filters being connected for additive relation of the filtered unidirectional currents regardless of their relative polarities.

A further feature relates to a carrier-ofi and noise discriminator arrangement employing a coincidence orproduct detector which is arranged to befedover separate paths by the received energy, one path having a predetermined timeda withrespect to the other path, one of said paths including one or more stages tuned to the signal frequency.

A further feature relates to a carrier and. noise discriminator arrangement employing a coincidence or product detector which is arranged to be fed over separate paths by the received. energy of respectively difierent and predetermined time delay, one path including means to amplitudemodulate or phase-modulate the signal at a fixed frequency; the detector having an. output circuit which includes filter means to accept components of said fixed frequency while rejecting components of frequencies appreciably different from said fixed frequency.

A still further feature relates to the novel organization, arrangement and relative interconnection of parts which cooperate to provide an improved carrier and noisediscriminator system.

Other features and advantages not particularly enumerated will be apparent after a consideration of the following detailed descriptions and the appended claims.

In the drawing.

Fig. 1 is a generalized schematic diagram explanatory of the principles or the invention.

Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 4a are modifications of the product detector of Fig. 1.

Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, are respective modifications of the system of Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of an arrangement according to the invention and explanatory of certain phases of its operation.

Figs. 10 and 11 are further modified embodiments' of the invention.

The basic principle of this invention is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1. The. input signal from source I is split into two branches, one oi.

which includes a delay circuit 2, and the two branches are recombined in a product detector 3 to produce an indicating voltage which, after suitable filtering in filter 4. appears at the output terminals. In the first branch, the signal is applied to the product detector with negligible time or amplitude distortion; in the second branch, however, the signal passes through the time delay means 2 which delay its arrival at the product detector.

The product detector or coincidence detector requires the presence of the signal in both branches simultaneously in order to produce an indicating voltage. Figs. 2, 3, 4', and 4a show various detector circuits suitable for product detection.

In Fig. 2, for example, it is obvious that there will be no direct current across the output of the balanced rectifier comprising diodes 5, 6, when signal is present in only one of the input branches. The same is true of the doublybalanced ring rectifier 1 of Figure 3, which is constructed preferably of four semi-conducting elements 8. 9, I0, H, with square law currentversus-voltage characteristics. The detector of Fig. 4' is a pentagrid converter tube l2 of the type commonly used as the first detector in conventional superheterodyne receiving circuitsand is characterized by the fact that its output, like that'of Fig. 3. contains components approximately proportional to the product of the instantaneous voltages applied to its two sets of in ut terminals. Tube l2 comprises the electron-emitting cathode l3. first control grid [4 which is fed from branch #2. shield grids IS, IS: second control grid ll which is fed from branch #1. suppressor grid l8, and output plate or anode l9. Hence the term product detector will be used in this specification for convenience in designating any of these or similar detecting means which produce a characteristic output only when a'signal is applied to each of two input circuits simultaneously.

Fig. 4a shows a. wattmeter movement of the electrodynamometer type used as a product detector, employing two dynamometer coils 20, 2!, one of which may be stationary and the other a moving coil as is well-kno n in electrodynamometer type wattmeters. The moving coil 2| has attached thereto an arm 22 which operates the movable contact 23 of a single-pole double-throw switch 24. The toroue produced by the instrument is roportional to the product of the current in the two coils, and the useful out ut due to asteady signal takes the form of unidirectional mechanical torque which can be utilized in vari- I ous ways, such as closing electrical contacts. for example. The mechanical inertia of the instrument here serves to reiect the eiiect of alternating torque produced by noise voltages. The signal here must be of relatively low frequency (audio) and the delay means may consist of electrical circuits. electromechanical or acoustical means, or phonograph recording and pickup heads displaced from each other along a moving recording medium.

It is now clear that a short noise impulse. being delayed in one branch of Fig. 1, cannot reach both input circuits of the product detector simultaneously and so produce a characteristic indicating voltage in the output, whereas a steady signal of lon er duration can be present in both circuits simultaneously despite the delay in one branch. While this explanation of the non-response of the circuit to noise voltage is adequate when the noise consists of impulses of short duration and low recurrence rate, the circuit will be non-responsive also to random noise, which may consist of impulses closely spaced in time. Hence further explanation is required. For this purpose reference may be had to Fig. 5.

In Fig. 5, the intermediate frequency output of a superheterodyne receiver 25 is applied to product detector 2% directly through branch I and through time-delay circuits 21 in branch 2, by respective coupling transformers 28, 29, tuned to the intermediate frequency by respective condensers 3t, 31. A steady signal may produce direct current in the output of 26, which is passed through resistance-capacitance filters 32, 33, St, to remove alternating current components, and the uni-directional output of the filters is applied to the control grids 35, 393 of D. C. amplifier tubes 31, 38. Any D. C. potential across these grids will cause a difierential D. C. current in the plate resistors 39, 49 to operate relay 4!, the contacts 42, 43 of which may close the circuit to a loudspeaker, telegraph sounder or tell-tale lamp, connected to control terminals t5, 4'6, for example. For simplicity, we shall assume that the selectivity characteristics of the receiver are equivalent to those of a single very selective circuit, but this is not essential to the operation of the system. A noise impulse at the antenna it may then produce an I. F. outputvoltage described as a function of time by:

where 'Dn is the instantaneous noise voltage, Vn the peak noise voltage; a is the decrement of the circult which is proportional to the effective bandwith; eis the decrement factor showing how the amplitude of the oscillation decays with time and cos out is the oscillation factor; we is the cyclic natural frequency of the I. F. selective circuit; and 1'? is the time since the impulse was applied to the antenna. If d is the time delay in branch #2, the delayed noise voltage is given by:

is the phase angle between the oscillation factors of the direct and the delayed noise voltages. The output of 26 will then be a pulse of direct current determined from constant of circuit 32, 33, 34, is very great, only the D. C. component can cause operation of the relay. The magnitude of the D. C. component is proportional to Noise D. C =J; V cos o e dt (4) For comparison, if there had been no delay in branch #2, the D. C. output due to noise would have been D. C. output wil delay D. C. output without delay The delay is thus effective in reducing the D. 0. output due, to noiseby the factor ey modified by thefactor cos wod.

A similar analysis will show that the, D. C. output due to a signal is proportional tov the square of the signal strength and the factor cos wad, without the. factor e if the signal wave is undaniped and its frequency is equal to the natural frequency or" the I. F. selective circuit. If the delay were such that cos ood l), or wodzvr/z, there would be no D. C. output due to either noise or signal. This would be the case if the delay amounted to a quarter cycle at the.

mid-frequency of the receiver passband, and. if the signal frequency were centered in the passband. In general, then, discrimination against the eiiectoi noise is obtainedonly by reduction of the factor ein Equation 6. The greater the.

factor a, the shorter is the effective duration of a noise pulse in the outputof the receiver. Thus a large reduction in the effect of noise is obtained when th delay d is large compared to the effective duration of. the pulse. In particular, it can be shown that the effective noise bandwidth of the receiver in cycles per second is Bza/Z. Thus, for example, if B were 11,500. C. P. 5., a would be 23,090. If the. delay were l/llLiiGO of a second, the factor ad would be 2.3, and the D. C. due to noise would be reduced by the factor e'- or to as much as there would have been without the delay network.

The analysis so far has been concerned only with the interaction in the product detector, of the direct and the delayed pulse due to the same applied noise impulse. Wehave seen that if the delay is great compared. to. the reciprocal of the bandwidth, the direct pulse will have decayed.

to a negligible value when the delayed pulse arrives, and the output ofthe product detector will be negligible. When the time separation of successive impulses is comparable with the delay, however, it is obvious that the direct pulsewill interact with the delayed. pulse from an earlier applied impulse and the detector output will not be zero. The detector, output will thenbe givenby an equation similar to (6) with :1 replaced by the difference between the delay and the time separation of the, impulses. The sign of the cosine factor in Equation 6 will thus be random because of the random separation of the impulses which characterizes random noise, so that the long-term average D. C. output of detector 2%,,

Fig. 5, will be Zero. The filter 52, 33, 34, is re.- quired to apply the averaging or integrating to the output of detector 26 and toreject other than D. C. products.

The C. output of the product detector due to the presence of the signal is proportional to Signal D. C. Vs cos mod ('7) where Vs and we are the strength and the cyclic frequency of the signal, respectively. If the delay, (2, remains constant and the I. F. signal frequency varies over a small range due to oscillator frequency drift inthe transmitter or the receiver, the factor wsd may assume any value so that cos wed may be positive, negative, or zero. To assure operation of the circuit regardless of these changes in signal frequency, the arrangement of Fig. 5 may be used wherein a second product detector is provided, with a 90 electrical phase shifting network 4! applied in one of its input circuits, as shown in Fig. 6. It will be seen in Fig. 6 that the branch #I is connected in parallel with detectors 26 and 26a, and

likewise branch #2 is connected in parallel with detectors 2B and 26a, the last-mentioned connection including the 90"phase-shifter 47a detector 26 feeds into a filter 32, 33, 34, and thence into the D. C. amplifier tubes 31, 38, as in Fig. 5. Likewise, the second product detector 26a feeds into a similar filter 32a, 33a, 34a; and thence into similar D. C. amplifier tubes 31a, 38a, The differential output across plate resistors 39, 38, is applied over conductors 48, 49, to the winding of electromagnetic relay 4|. Likewise, the differential output across plate resistors 39a, 48a, is applied over conductors 48a, 49a, to the winding or an electromagnetic relay 4la. These relays have their respective contacts connected in parallel to the control terminals. 45, 46.

The D. C. output of 26a, due to the signal is.

thus

Signal D. C.=Vs sin wsd (8) This is filtered by another R.-C. filter 32a, 33a, 35a, and applied through tubes 37a, 38a, to relay 41a. Hence if so that the output of 25 is zero, there will be maximum output from 26a and the contacts of either ii or am or both, which are in parallel, will be closed whenever a signal is present regardless of its exact frequency and the phase angle of the factor wsd. In fact, if the armatures 43 and 45d were linked together mechanically as in Fig. '7, pulling against a common retractile spring 58, the sensitivity of this composite relay would be quite independent of wed, since the pull of each relay is proportional to the square of the signal current it receives.

Hence the total pull would be proportional to V5 (cos aid-{sin wsd Vs (9) A similar effect can be realized from the circuit of Fig. 8 using a single relay 5i in which the tubes 37, 3S, are biased by a D. C. bias means such as cathode resistor 52, to operate on the square law portion of their plate-current versus grid-voltage characteristic and the relay 5! receives the sum of the plate currents of all four tubes.

For simplicity, the analysis thus far has been based on the assumption that the intermediate frequency delay network applies the same delay and attenuation to all frequency components; i. e., that it has no phase. or amplitude distortion. In practice, this requirement is not essential, as will be seen from an analysis of the circuit of Fig. 9.

Here the intermediate frequency signal from the superheterodyne radio receiver 25 passes through similar resonant circuits 53, 54 and 55 in a cascade amplifier comprising for example amplifier tubes 56, 51, 58. The signal from branch #I is applied to one set of input terminals of a product detector 26, and that from branch #2 is applied to another product detector. The additional delay required in branch #2 is furnished by circuits 54 and 55.

If the equation of the transient oscillation across circuit 53 due to the application oia noise impulse is given by and if, for simplicity, the signal gain of each stage is taken equalto unity, the transient oscillation across. circuit 54 will be Theand that across circuit 55 V55 96* COS w t (12) The D. C. output of the product detector due to a single noise impulse will thus be proportional to Noise D. C.=j; VasVas 2 2 w Z J1 t c' cos w tdt (l4) Since cos wi=%;+ cos 2wot of which only the term /2 contributes to the definite integral of Equation 14, this may be written azvnz 2% K:3

4 Life ei- Noise D. C.=

Comparing Equations 15 and 16, it is seen that the delay introduced by circuits 54 and 55 reduces the D. C. contribution due to noise by 33% without affecting that produced by the signal. Obviously, the more circuits included between terminals Tl and terminals T2 the more is the effect of noise reduced. When the input terminals of branch #I are connected near the input of a multistage intermediate frequency amplifier with multiple tuned circuits and the input terminals of branch #2 are connected near the output, a very large increase in the noise tolerance of the system can be achieved.

A practical application of the principles illustrated in Fig. 9, is shown in Fig. 10.

Because it is desirable to include most of the intermediate frequency amplifier between the points which feed the product detector in order to get the delay required between those points, the signal in branch #I is, in practice, rather weak and the output of product detector 26 is weak "also. If the useful output of 26 were direct current, a carefully balanced high-gain D. C. amplifier would be required for operating the relay. To avoid this, the signal in branch #2 is modulated by modulator 59 at the frequency fa as controlled by oscillator 60. 59 may vary the intensity or phase of the signal in branch #2, or, if it is a balanced modulator, it may actually reverse the phase periodically. In either case, the output of 26 will be alternating current and can more easily be amplified by amplifier 6|, the output of which is rectified by rectifier 62 and used to operate the D. C.-relay 5!. Only steady signal energy at the input of 25 results in A. C. output of frequency fa. The noise rejection function of D. C. filter 32, 33, 34 of Fig. 5, is now performed by the selectivity of amplifier 6|. When relay 5| is operated, it connects the amplified signal from'the second detector and audio frequency amplifier stage of the receiver to a suitable loudspeaker, as indicated.

The output of 26 will still be zero, however, for signals of such frequency asto make 'wsd=0; that is, when the two intermediate frequency input signals to 26 are in phase quadrature. To prevent this, the phase of the signal in branch #2 with respect to that in branch #l can be caused to rotate continuously at a rate of fa cycles per second, rather than merely reversing periodically. This is equivalent to heterodyning the signal to a new frequency removed from the original intermediate frequency by fa cycles per second which arrangement is shown in Fig. 11.

Since the output of the product detector of frequency fa due to the presence of signal is now never zero regardless of the signal frequency and the delay, but merely changes in phase, it could be utilized directly in a highly selective amplifier and rectifier arrangement as in Fig. 10. However, a more practical arrangement is presented in Fig. 11. Here the function of amplifier 6| is merely to provide amplification. The equivalent of selectivity is provided by balanced rectifiers 63 and 64 and their R.-C. output filters 65, 66. Both 63 and 54 receive components of frequency fa derived from the signal. 64 is polarized by oscillator 50 directly, and 63 is polarized through phase shifting network 61. Hence, Whenever there are components of frequency exactly equal to fa in the output of 6!, there will be direct current in the output of at least one of the rectifiers 63 and 64 regardless of the phase relation between these components and the voltage from oscillator 50. The two rectifiers '53, 64, then energize the control relay 5! cooperatively by some means such as explained in Figs. 6, '7 and 8, for example. When relay 5! is operated, it connects the detected and amplified audio frequency signal from the radio receiver 25 to the loudspeaker. Receiver 25 may be of the conventional superheterodyne type comprising radio frequency input stage with its associated heterodyne local oscillator and first detector; first intermediate frequency amplifier stage; converter stage; second intermediate frequency amplifier stage; second detector and audio frequency amplifier stages. A system such as shown in Fig. 11 was found to be practical and reliable for carrier controlled audio muting under extreme noise conditions.

While in the foregoing certain particular embodiments have been illustrated, it will be understood that various changes and modifications will be made therein. Thus, while there is no particular criterion as to the duration of the intelligence signal voltage with respect to the delay time of the various delay circuits, they should, to produce the best results, be of a duration which is long compared with the delay time of the delay circuit. Preferably, the circuit band-width must be Wide enough so that individual noise impulses are of short duration compared to the delay time of the delay circuits. However, if the spacing of these individual noise impulses is random, they may overlap with the signal intelligence. In that case, the noise output of the system is not zero, but of random polarity so that it can be filtered out in a long time constant filter circuit such as (filters 4, 32-33-36, tit-55) which will also filter out an audio signal as described. It should be observed that elements of the various figures which are the same are identified by the same numerals.

What is claimed is:

l. A circuit arrangement which is responsive to a substantially steady intelligence or control signal while substantially non-responsive to random frequency noise voltages and the like, comprising in combination first and second branches to which the received energy is simultaneously supplied, first and second product detectors, means connecting the first branch to both detectors, means connecting the second branch to one detector through a time delay network and also through said time delay network and a 90 degree phase shifter to the other detector, filter means connected to the outputs of said detectors forfiltering out the uni-directional components, and means for applying said uni-directional components to control a signal responder.

2. A circuit arrangement according to claim 1 in which separate filter means are connected in the outputs of said detectors, and circuit means are connected to the filters to combine the effect of the filtered uni-directional output currents from both filters additively regardless of their relative polarities.

3. A circuit arrangement according to claim 1 in which separate filters are connected to the outputs of said detectors for filtering the unidirectional components and each of said filters is connected to a respective direct current ampli- WALTER H. WIRKLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,904,607 Bethenod Apr. 1 8, 1933 2,165,764 Pitsch July 11, 1939 2,175,270 Koch Oct. 10, 1939 2,233,384 Feldman Feb. 25, 1941 2,290,958 Hagen July 28, 1942 2,304,135 Wise Dec. 8, 1942 2,426,187 Earp Aug. 26, 1947 OTHER REFERENCES Belles, Reduction of Heterodyne Interference, Electronics. December 1945, pages 150-151. 

